Consultation on council wards

There’s a review starting on council ward boundaries in Bristol. Due to new housing being built in some areas and demographic changes, some wards are deemed to be far too big – this is particularly an issue in Cabot, Lawrence Hill and Ashley wards – while others are by comparison too small.

This could be addressed by some wards having three councillors, and others only one – at the moment all wards have two councillors – or by changing ward boundaries. The overall number of councillors has been fixed at 70, and they need to ensure roughly one councillor per 5000 voters. I’d also be keen to ensure that natural communities are respected, and where possible artificial wards, crossing obvious geographical boundaries, are avoided. It’s not an easy task!

The boundary reviews for parliamentary constituencies, by the way, will take place after the 2015 election and come into effect in time for 2020. Bristol West is becoming far too big, and Bristol East is the smallest seat, so it could mean that those bits of east Bristol which are somewhat bizarrely now classed as Bristol West (like Easton – the clue is in the name!) could end up back in East, where they were until 2010.